Holland City News, Thursday, August 21, 1930

The picture accompanying this article is that of Mr. Bert Vander Hoop to the left and Mr. John Kollen of Holland, old pals in Overisel for a number of years. The picture was taken by Dr. A. J. Brouwer on the Vander Hoop farm in Oakland a few weeks before Mr. Vander Hoop passed away in his 93^rd year.

The two men had been pals for nearly three-quarters of a century and they made frequent visits one to another. There are a great many interesting details in the lives of both Mr. Kollen and Mr. Vander Hoop. The latter was born on April 1, 1838, in The Netherlands, and surely it was not April Fool’s Day when the ripe old age of Mr. Vander Hoop is considered. When he was 19 years old, he came to America and almost immediately volunteered as a soldier in the Union Army of the Civil War. He served fully three years, and though a very modest man, it is known by the entire countryside that he was a brave soldier, coming out of the conflict very much battle scarred. In one of the skirmishes, a bullet entered his leg, and after he was released from the camp hospital, he immediately went into battle again. A ball entered his back, and this bullet he carried until his dying day. After enlistment, the boys went to camp at Kalamazoo and of the 1100 volunteers who left that camp, only 90 returned, the rest having died in battle, of disease or in southern prison.

Mr. Vander Hoop was for 30 days at Fort Erie, a southern prison, and fought seven days straight in the battle of Murfreesboro. He was also in the skirmishes at Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, under General Hooker, and later at Missionary Ridge. He was in the buffer ranks in the battle of Chickamauga Creek. Mr. Vander Hoop related a very interesting incident that happened during a pause in that battle.

The boys hadn’t had very much to eat for several days, since the enemy kept them busy, but during a lull in the battle, they had been getting ready a mess of beans. The beans were just ready for consumption, when suddenly; General Bragg with a large army of Confederate soldiers appeared, far outnumbering the Union men. There was nothing left to do but make a hasty retreat, leaving the succulent beans behind. It was at that juncture that Vander Hoop was shot in the leg, and if it wasn’t for the timely aid of the late James Fairbanks of Holland and John Hendrik Slotman of Overisel, Vander Hoop would either have been killed, or would have been taken prisoner. His two companions put their arms around him and hustled him along for six miles, Vander Hoop jumping along on one leg, sustained by his two comrades.

Although they escaped from the enemy, hunger stalked after them, and for days Mr. Vander Hook lay weakened from loss of blood and lack of food. This was on September 19, 1863. One can imagine the appalling loss of life when 19,000 Union men were killed in the battle of Chickamauga alone, and the Confederate loss was even greater.

Mr. Vander Hoop was also with General Sherman on his march to the sea, however, he was very reluctant in giving a detailed account of this march because of the awful sights that he saw and the devastation found on every hand.

Mr. Vander Hoop enlisted from Overisel Township on the 27^th day of December, 1861, in Company I of the 13^th Michigan Infantry, under the Captain H. C. Stoughton of Otsego, Michigan. On the 17^th day of January, 1862, he was duly mustered into the military service for a term of a three year period as a private. While the 13^th regiment was being recruited at Kalamazoo, the citizens there, full of enthusiasm, presented the men with a set of colors. These were ordered directly from New York, but before the colors arrived, the regiment had left for the battlefront in Kentucky. The flags were quickly sent to the Southland and were presented to the regiment at Nashville, Tennessee. Large gold letters, "Sans-Ceremonic," were emblazoned upon the banners. In 1864, when the regiment returned the flags, tattered and torn, they were duly returned to the donors. These have since been delivered in the care of Michigan’s depository and can be seen with the other flags in the state capitol building. These flags went with the men of the regiment through the most severe battles, and were splattered with human blood and riddled with bullets after passing through the bloody conflicts at Stone River, Perryville, Missionary Ridge and Chickamauga. Three of the color bearers fell with the flags. Over 50 percent of the men never returned and many lie buried in southern soil.

In 1860, Mr. Vander Hoop joined the United Presbyterian Church of Drenthe. After the Civil War, in 1867, he was made an elder of that congregation, and from that period up to the time of his death, he has served as an elder almost unremittingly. He lived in Oakland, Overisel Township, on a farm, ever since he came to America. Four daughters were born; two are still living. The sons are Egbert of Holland and Albert of Oakland. The daughters are Mrs. Tom Straatsma of Holland and Mrs. Yonker living in Iowa.

Mr. John Kollen

Mr. John Kollen, who now lives on East Twelfth Street, and is the president of the Old Gentlemen Club that meets every morning in Centennial Park and adjourns at intervals for the "Koffee Klets," was an old pal of Mr. Vander Hoop.

Mr. Kollen was born in 1839, in the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. At the age of 12, he immigrated with his widowed mother, two brothers and two sisters to Overisel, Michigan, where they eked out an existence on a farm that they had to clear by cutting and stumping virgin forests. This was in the year 1851.

Mr. Kollen, after pioneering with his parent for a few years, returned to the Netherlands to visit, and to take care of some business matters. It was there that he met his first sweetheart, and it was agreed between them that the young man should first become well established in primitive Michigan, "the country of opportunity," and then he should come for her. Of course, the parents of the young Dutch lass knew nothing about these contemplated plans.

A correspondence was kept up, and in 1867 it was agreed that Mr. Kollen would come for her and they would be wed in Europe. So John set out, and in a shrewd, businesslike way, he secured an agency, and arranged to take 50 or more immigrants back with him on the return trip. This supplied Mr. Kollen with some much needed funds for the coming marriage event, for money was very scarce, but when Mr. Kollen landed in Europe, he was confronted with some new obstacles. He was told by his sweetheart to first get the consent of her father to the marriage. John bravely approached the head of the family, but the governor was not much impressed with John Kollen’s appearance, and there would be nothing doing along matrimonial lines. The poor fellow sailed back to America alone, with the exception of the 50 immigrants that he had contracted to bring back to America.

It appears that he later received a letter from his "old flame" with information that her father had written the late Rev. Nykerk, then of Overisel, asking information about the would be swain. The sweetheart, of course, did not know the contents of the letter. As John puts it today, he wrote back to his girl something like this, "If your father did that, then I know he is asking the dominee about me. If Rev. Nykerk writes your father all he knows about me, then all will be well." and smilingly he added to the interview. I wrote, "There is so much that Rev. Nykerk doesn’t know, so all will be well and I have no fear for the results."

Shortly afterwards it was agreed that in 1868 the marriage should take place, and John once more crossed the "big pond" and the marriage was finally solemnized. Many years after the first wife had passed away, John again sought the same family for a helpmeet, and married the second sister, who passed away almost two years ago.

One of the amusing incidents, that might have had serious results for some of the immigrants, was witnessed by Mr. Kollen on his return trip. A few of the many immigrants on board, it seemed, had stowed away a boy, who they confined in a box and fed at intervals during the trip. An accident happened to the ship, however, and the immigrants, who had the boy hidden, became very alarmed because they thought that there would be a shortage of food due to the extra days of travel. The foreigners tried to cover up their excitement, for fear that the ship authorities might find out about the boy. The problem with the boat was soon repaired, however, which saved the day, and with the immigrants now all on short rations, there was enough food remaining to feed the lad until he was safely smuggled into America.

The first ocean trip was made in a combination steam and sailboat, the voyage lasting 30 days. The second crossing on a steamer took but 12 days, which shows the advancement of transportation even at an early period.

Mr. Kollen comes from a "long lived" family. His mother, who died in Overisel 15 years ago, was 101 years old. Mr. Kollen is now is his ninety-second year. Mr. Kollen was the brother of the late G. J. Kollen, who for many years was president and builder of Hope College. He was the father of George E. Kollen, prominent attorney in this city, while he lived. Mrs. Arnold Mulder, wife of the former editor of the Holland Evening Sentinel and now on the Kalamazoo faculty, is also a daughter. Another daughter met a tragic death two years ago, on a motoring trip in Florida. Altogether there were two sons and four daughters.

Mr. Kollen had the official position of Justice of the Peace in Overisel for a number of years and also held other positions of trust in that township. He was both a farmer and general storekeeper at Overisel for a number of years. For the past quarter of a century he has made his home in Holland. He is interested in many local enterprises and is a director of the Holland City State Bank.